Obviously I meant it figuratively :)

I never said that testosterone levels determine whether or not someone is a woman, and I never said that she SHOULD compete against men. I was responding to the poster who said, “Gender isn’t binary so what are you gonna do. Forcing someone to alter their natural biology is ridiculous to me.”

Yes, but it’s telling that her performance improved so much after the rules regarding hormones were changed. She only won silver during London 2012. Now that athletes are no longer required to lower their natural testosterone levels before competing against women, she’s beating the others by miles. It would be too…

But by that logic, why doesn’t she compete against men? If she doesn’t fit into the sex binary, and her hormones levels are closer to that of a man, surely that would make more sense? She wouldn’t need to alter her natural testosterone levels at all.

As far as I’m aware, Caster’s testosterone level is three times that of the average woman. If you’re going to allow her to race against women without taking any hormone blockers, what’s the point in separating sport by sex in the first place?

“To your second question, I wish people would perhaps stop worrying about their impropriety so much and perhaps actually study it instead of playing giggle grab-ass like most sports “science” that isn’t about selling a new product.”

Do you honestly think there are many closeted trans men out there who are beating elite male athletes, despite having smaller lungs, hearts and skeletons?

Hormones are not the only physical differences between men and women. Adjusting hormone levels may affect muscles, fat distribution, and (in the long-term) bone density. But it will not affect skeletal structure, lung capacity, heart size, or the other advantages that biological males have over biological females.